Opening day is almost like a holiday

For hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents, this is a very special day.

Because it is so special, it is akin to a holiday for many.

Hunters have been saving some vacation days for this time in November and quite a few started their hunting vacation over the weekend. Those coming up north from downstate were noticed in the grocery stores, license dealers, gas stations and bars as early as last Saturday.

In this part of the state, we don't get the big influx of downstaters that comes to the more central part of Northern Michigan and to the Upper Peninsula. The attraction in those places is lots of public land and around here there is more private than public land, so the hunters that do visit the area are guests and relatives of the landowners.

Our privately-owned farm land, however, is absolutely tops when it comes to producing deer and we can look forward to another good crop this year. Some folks that used to drive up north are staying home now, attracted by the growing deer population in Southern Michigan counties and the number of record-book bucks taken in some of those counties in recent years.

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Nov. 15 has been the magic date for a very long time. There were a few efforts to change the opener to the second Saturday in November and a few other dates, but the 15th has prevailed for decades now. It was originally selected by the Department of Natural Resources as the date when the rut or the mating activity in whitetail deer peaks and that is still the case.

This would not be a good day to take your car in for service or to call a plumber. Those guys are going to be out in the woods. Some young people who are supposed to be in school will develop all sorts of unusual maladies and some older people who are supposed to be at work will fall ill, too, but recover magically as soon as they get into the fresh air in the woods.

Opening day is absolutely key to the annual deer harvest. The DNR has estimated that as much as 25 percent of the antlered deer harvest will fall on Nov. 15. One reason for that, of course, is the sheer number of hunters in the woods.

By the second or third day of the season, the number of hunters in the woods and the number of shots that you will hear will fall by 50 percent. By the fourth day of the season, many hunters will have exhausted the time they budgeted for hunting and returned to work. Many of them will have their bucks by that time and many others will take to the woods again over the weekend and again on Thanksgiving Day and on the following Friday, now almost a national holiday.

The second reason that the harvest falls off on the second or third day is that the deer just go into seclusion shortly after all those strange and dangerous sights, noises and smells enter the woods. The deer will become almost nocturnal, getting to their day beds before full light in the morning and not venturing out to feed until it gets almost dark again in the evening.

They are very difficult to hunt then and the traditional stand hunting, in which the hunter takes a stand and waits for the deer to wander by, is almost fruitless except perhaps for a short period just before dark. And the big bucks are the most wary deer in the woods.

On the first day and perhaps into the second day, the bucks will still be chasing does and their guard is definitely down. By the third day, however, even the rut goes on hold and the deer head for thick cover and seem to disappear. Those who continue to hunt must then change their tactics and resort to small drives, sneak hunting and stalking into the bedding areas.

The weather on opening day is very important. A poor weather day, which would be too warm, too windy or rainy, can cut the harvest by tens of thousands of deer. An ideal weather day, on the other hand, can improve the take of deer. An ideal day would be much like this last Sunday with a light overcast in the morning, little or no wind and some snow on the ground.

A real bonus is to have the snow freeze up tight overnight as it did on Sunday, so we have not only snow but crunchy conditions that permit hunters to hear approaching deer. Snow is not vital, but is sure helps. The deer are much more visible and can be seen hundreds of yards away. Out in the woods on Saturday morning, right after that fresh snow, I saw three different groups of deer that I would not have seen at all if it were not for the snow on the ground.

Just seeing them is not really productive, of course, but there is certainly an entertainment factor in watching passing deer and just seeing the does and fawns and young bucks keeps ones hopes alive. The snow shows current movement patterns after a day or so and, most importantly, it provides the hunters with the opportunity to track a wounded deer.

Having just an inch of snow on the ground could mean that many deer that might be wounded and lost will be recovered. The weather forecast for today and for the next few days calls for seasonal temperatures with a chance of rain or snow. If we don't get any real rain and the winds are light, it will be pretty good conditions and the hunters should rejoice.

If you are hunting, be patient, be safe and put a little luck in your fanny pack. Experience and skill and marksmanship will all help, but luck is often the determining factor in bagging a decent buck.